Rail anchors



P 1951 J. R. STEELE ET AL 2,999,641

RAIL ANCHORS Filed Sept. 5, 1957 INVENTORJ Wdiwz nite This inventionrelates to railway rail anchors, sometimes known as anti-creeperdevices, adapted to grip a rail and to bear against a side face of across tie in order to restrain longitudinal movements of the rail.

Many different designs of rail anchor have been proposed in the past,among the most satisfactory of which have been those anchors adapted tobe formed, simply and economically, by bending a length of bar stock ofconventional section. Rail anchors fabricated by bending T-section stockare disclosed in US. Patents 2,161,- 484 and 2,244,755. The generalobject of the present invention is the provision of a rail anchor whichis an improvement upon the rail anchors disclosed in the said patents.

A rail anchor made from a rolled steel T-section has certaindisadvantages. For example, the step or upwardly extending projection atthe free end of the under-rail portion of the rail anchor, which isintended to engage the edge of the rail base flange opposite the edgewhich is gripped in the jaw portion of the rail anchor, is very limitedin height. This is due partly to the difficulty involved in lateraldisplacement of a short length of T-section stock, but regardless ofthis factor, the height of the step, in such rail anchors, must berigidly limited because the anchor, made from T-section material, isrelatively stiff and unyielding; thus, it the step were higher, drivingthe anchor onto the rail could only be accomplished by spreading theupper and lower jaws excessively as the anchor is driven. Thisover-stressing of the jaw section might give rise to a permanent set,thus destroying the grip of the jaw section upon the rail base flange.

On the other hand, because the step portion of the known T-section railanchors is of such limited height, such anchors are subject to beingover-driven because the workman cannot readily perceive the slightangular movement of the rail anchor occasioned when the step springs upbehind the opposite edge of the rail base flange. Moreover, since theupper inner edge of the step portion must be slightly rounded, in orderto avoid shearing a sliver of steel from the rail base as it snaps intoplace, the actuahgripping engagement between such step and the edge ofthe rail base flange is relatively slight, the anchor thus being liableto accidental displacement. This disadvantage is enhanced by the factthat the bottom edge of the rail base flange is also somewhat rounded.

Another disadvantage of rail anchors such as disclosed in theaforementioned patents is that the web of the T-section forms a sharppeak adjacent the free end of the jaw portion, which peak is not onlyvalueless to the gripping power of the rail anchor, but constitutes anobstruction which may be struck by the flange of a derailed wheel, or bydragging equipment, and thus cause dislodgement of the rail anchor, ordamage to the rail, or both.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a rail anchor,formed from T-section bar stock, which avoids the aforesaiddisadvantages. This is accomplished by (1) excising or shearing away aportion of the web or rib of the T-section material along the under-railportion of the anchor, thus increasing the flexibility of that portionand permitting the use of a higher step at the free end of saidunder-rail portion and (2) shearing off the aforesaid peak of the rib orweb adjacent the free Patent end of the jaw portion of the anchor, thusremoving the obstruction mentioned above and its attendant hazards. Thescrap value of the web portions thus sheared away should cover the costof the shearing operation and the improved rail anchor of the presentinvention, therefore, can be fabricated at no increase in cost.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide arail anchor comprising a T-section member provided with a jaw portionconsisting of upper and lower jaws for gripping the base flange of arail, and having a body portion formed to extend beneath the rail base,said lower jaw and body portions being formed for abutting engagementwith the side face of an adjacent cross tie and said body portion havingan upturned end portion for abutting engagement with the edge of therail base flange opposite to that edge which is gripped by the saidjaws, the gripping portions of said jaws and the rail base abuttingportion of said body portion comprising a continuous flange portion ofsaid T- section member, said jaws and a part of said body portion havingstiffening ribs comprising segments of a web portion of said T-sectionmember, another part of said body portion consisting only of said flangeportion of the T-section member whereby the last-mentioned part of saidbody portion is more easily flexed than said firstmentioned part of thebody portion.

Another object is the provision of a rail anchor as described in theprevious'paragraph, in which the stiffening rib or web portion of theupper jaw is continually diminished in height as it approaches the freeend of said upper jaw, and thus presents less obstruction to draggingequipment or derailed Wheels.

A further object is the provision of a method of making a rail anchor bybending a length of T-section material to form a substantially U-shapedjaw portion, a straight portion, and an upturned end portion, comprisingthe step of excising a part of the web of the T-section along the saidstraight portion of the rail anchor, with or without the step of alsoexcising a part of the stiffening rib or web portion adjacent the freeend of the upper jaw.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent fromthe description which follows, read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a rail anchor according to thepresent invention, as the same appears when the act of driving it ontothe rail is nearly completed;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, showing the rail anchorcompletely applied;

FIGURE 3 is a rear end elevation of the rail anchor as seen in FIGURE 2;and

FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 are transverse sections on lines 4-4, 55 and 6-6,respectively, of FIGURE 2.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, reference ismade to the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings anddetailed descriptive language is employed. It will nevertheless beunderstood that no limitation of the invention is thereby intended andthat various changes and alterations are contemplated such as wouldordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the rail anchor designated generally by thenumeral 10 is seen as nearly completely applied to the rail indicatedgenerally at 11. The rail anchor 10 comprises a jaw portion 12, a bodyportion or under-rail portion 13 and a step portion 14, the jaw portion12 embodying an upper jaw 15 and a lower jaw 16. The rail anchor 10 isformed by bending a length of T-section bar stock to form asubstantially U-shaped jaw portion 12 near one end, after which parts ofthe web or rib 17 of the T-section are excised as by shearing. The partswhich are thus sheared away are indicated by dotted lines at 18 and 19.The flange of the T-section forms the rail gripping portions and 16',respectively, of the upper and lower jaws 15 and 16, and the railabutting portion 13. of the under-rail or body portion 13. Adjacent thefree end of the body portion 13, the flange of the T-section is splitlongitudinally at either, side of the eb 17, each lateral portion 141:and 145 being turned upwardly at right angles to the portion 13' to formthe bifurcated step portion 14. The step portion 14 is considerablyhigher than has heretofore been practical in rail anchors formed of T-section material, and it is preferably about of an inch high.

The use of a relatively high step portion, as just described, ispossible because of the flexibility of the underrail or body portion 13due to the removal of the portion 19 of the rib or web 17. This permitsthe anchor to be driven onto the rail without unduly stressing the jawportion 12, theT-section member flexing near the center of theunder-rail portion as illustrated in FIG- URE 1. At the same time, whenthe anchor is fully home, the step 14'- will snap into engagement withthe edge 20 of the rail base with a noticeable movement of the railanchor, from which the workman will know that the latter has been drivenhome.

As illustrated, the T-scction material from which the rail anchor isformed, has the upper edges of the flange portion 21 bevelled as at 22,which bevel disappears due to bending, in the jaw portion 12 and in thestep portion 14, the edges of the flange 21 bulging to form roundedsurfaces at these points (see FIGURE 4).

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the presentinvention provides a rail anchor, and a method of making it, whichobviates the explained disadvantages of the rail anchors heretoforefabricated from T-section bar stock.

It might be thought that excising a portion of the rib or Web 17 fromthe under-rail portion of the rail anchor, as indicated at 19, wouldallow the under-rail portion to cut into the adjacent cross tie morereadily, because the bearing area of the rib or Web 17 upon the crosstie is reduced. However, this is not the case because the edges 19a and19b extend diagonally across the fibers of the cross-tie. The resistanceof these fibers to cutting or shearing is more than enough to offset thereduction in bearing area of the web 17 so that actually an anchor madeaccording to the invention does not cut into the tie as fast as one inwhich the Web 17 is continuous.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A rail anchor comprising a T-section bar steel member formed toprovide a jaw portion comprising upper and lower jaws for gripping thebase flange of a rail and a body portion to extend beneath the railbase, said lower jaw and said body portion being formed face of anadjacent cross-tie and said body portion having an upturned end portionof a height not substantially less than A for abutting engagement withthat edge of the rail base flange which is opposite to the portiongripped by said jaws, said jaws having rail base gripping portions andsaid body portion having an element adjacent said rail base whichgripping portions and element comprise a continuous flange portion ofsaid T- section member, said jaws and said body portion havingstiffening ribs comprising the web portion of said T- section member, asubstantial intermediate segment of said body portion having the webcompletely removed and consisting only of said flange portion of said T-section member, the Web portions defining the removed portion comprisingsmooth curves so that the straight portion of the anchor is free fromabrupt changes in section, whereby said segment of said body portion ismore easily flexed.

2. A rail anchor as defined in claim 1, said stiffening ribs of saidfirst-mentioned part of said body portion and said lower jaw formingsaid tie-engaging portions.

3. A rail anchor as defined in claim 1, said stiffening rib of saidupper jaw diminishing continuously in its dimension transverse to thelongitudinal rail axis as it approaches the free end of said upper jaw.

4. A rail anchor comprising a length of T-section bar steel, havingflange and web portions, bent to form a substantially U-shaped jawportion toward one end of said length, the Web of said T-section lyingoutermost relative to the center of curvature of said bend, a straightportion of said length joining said U-shaped jaw portion, the free.v endof said straight portion being formed to provide a step portionapproximately 4 in extent, projecting at right angles to said straightportion, the web of said T-section being completely removed over asubstantial length of said straight portion intermediate the endsthereof and being continuously diminished in its dimension transverse tothe longitudinal rail axis over the length of'said upper jaw from saidU-shaped bend to the free end thereof, the Web portions defining theremoved portion comprising smooth curves so that the straight portion ofthe anchor is free from abrupt changes in section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS977,678 Portteus Dec. 6, 1910 1,036,518 Betts Aug. 20, 1912 1,134,567Walker Apr. 6, 1915 1,669,245 Hyle et al. May 8, 1928 1,680,378 Hyle etal. Aug. 14, 1928 1,728,188 Natale Sept. 17, 1929 2,244,755 Warr June10, 1941 2,511,062 Hylevet a1. June 13, 1950 2,535,739 Hyle et al. Dec.26, 1950 2,827,240 Steele et al. Mar. 18, 1958

